Being able to remove clothing quickly in an emergency situation presents multiple problems. For accident victims, burn victims, and the like, clothing cannot be removed conventionally.
A patient should be moved, or jostled, as little as possible. For burn victims, accident victims, and others in emergency situations the clothing must be removed completely and quickly. Patients who are conscious may not be cooperative and endanger themselves as well as the operator who must remove the clothing.
Tools to remove clothing consist of open blades, such as knives, razor blades, and scissors. Open, exposed, blades put the patient and operator at risk of injury from the blade.
When using an open blade the cut must be somehow started, or else the cloth to be removed must not be thick or tough. Scissors have an advantage because they allow the operator to start a cut, or continue cutting, by squeezing two blades together.
Scissors also have finger holes and require the operator to place a thumb or finger within the hole for operation of the scissors. Fingers are prone to injury when having to remove clothes quickly, which may also be heavy, thick, wet, and burnt. The pushing and operation of scissors may cause injury when confronting resistance from clothing.
Scissors, and other tools with finger holes, require left-handed and right-handed versions. Operators may not have time to locate an appropriate version, use the incorrect version for them and injure themselves or obtain poor cutting ability.
Tools which require the pushing of a cutting tool to remove clothes are inefficient. These tools require the operator to push the tool away from the operator's body which takes more effort than pulling the tool toward the operator's body. As a tool is pushed away the operator's arm is farther from their body and the operator loses strength. As an operator pulls a tool toward them their arm becomes closer to their body and the operator gains strength.
Tools which are pushed away from the operator, or used in a scissoring fashion needlessly jostle the patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,471 ('471) discloses a bandage cutter which may be pulled toward the operator. Invention '471 has a rigid, stationary blade which must be sharp enough to start a cut in clothing. Invention '471 is disclosed to be used primarily on thinner cloth such as bandages and wraps due to one stationary blade.
Until the present invention, these needs and problems had not been met or solved.